In a case that highlights the challenges Texas mineral owners face in ensuring oil and gas operators pay what they promise, the Texas Supreme Court has revived the claim of a man who alleges he was shortchanged on royalties.

After a drop in drilling permits and months of plummeting oil prices, nightmares about idled drilling rigs are becoming reality, and Texas oilfields are the hardest hit. Here's the data illustrating how much rig counts are falling, and how Texas oilfields are faring.

Texas bars companies from owning or controlling more than 20 percent of the electric generation capacity in the state. A lawmaker wants to eliminate that cap, worrying consumer advocates who say the change would open the door to market abuse and higher electric rates.

Texas’ recent attempts to figure out what will happen with oil prices have one thing in common: They’re rarely accurate. But that’s the norm for most states trying to forecast the future in the volatile petroleum industry.

The Texas Railroad Commission recently endorsed changes to how cities can challenge natural gas utility rate increases. Commissioners say the new rule should help cut expenses for ratepayers. But some critics say the rule actually puts cities at a disadvantage. Some state lawmakers are already talking about potential legislation to block the rule.

Thousands of rural Texas homes get their natural gas from "farm taps," hooking up to nearby pipelines that carry raw gas on its way from wells to processing plants. One homeowner shut down his furnace when he learned of the risks.

Big names in state and national politics gathered in the Texas Senate chamber Friday to welcome George P. Bush, the state's new land commissioner, into the family business. The 38-year-old former investment consultant said that he would “practice the politics of aspiration" in his new post.

Ryan Sitton, the incoming Texas railroad commissioner, says he is following through on a campaign promise to step away from his oil and gas consulting firm and place its assets in a blind trust – an effort aimed at reducing the appearance of a conflict of interest.

When Gov. Rick Perry first took office, Texas’ wind energy sector hardly existed. But the state has since become the nation’s leader in wind energy generation, Jim Malewitz writes, and Perry — more commonly associated with oil and gas — helped steer that boom.

Incoming Comptroller Glenn Hegar is on the hot seat as a nosedive in crude oil prices – and the increasingly gloomy forecasts that have followed – cast a pall over the next legislative session. Less than two weeks after taking office, Hegar must divine what the future holds.

The Railroad Commission wants to beef up oversight of oil and gas wells in cities, and ease tension between the industry and the growing number of urban Texans living next to well pads, compressor stations and disposal wells.

No one disputes that high levels of methane have shown up in several Parker County water wells. But the source of the gas has stirred a heated debate. The Railroad Commission says a new academic study pointing to drilling isn't enough for it to reopen the case.

State lawmakers, the oil and gas industry and national environmental groups are asking deep questions about Denton, home to two universities, 277 gas wells and, now, thanks to a rag-tag group of local activists, Texas’ first ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Battery storage could revolutionize the state’s electrical grid, making it more reliable and friendlier to renewable energy, without driving up consumer costs. The problem? It is likely to require a fundamental change in state law.

Where there’s oil and natural gas, there’s money to be made and jobs to be found. But the challenges these dramatic booms present for communities across South and West Texas are immense. Revisit our 15-part multimedia series to see how surging energy production is changing lives and fortunes across Texas.

Texas leaders weren't always so skeptical about climate change. But the state's rightward shift, coupled with a booming oil and gas economy, have changed the tenor of the debate. Scientists and environmental advocates say that's a growing problem for Texas, the country's biggest climate polluter. This story was produced in collaboration with The World, a program by Public Radio International.

Over the objections of Texas officials, the Obama administration on Wednesday proposed a long-delayed rule to slash levels of ozone – a smog-forming pollutant known to worsen asthma, lung disease and heart conditions.

College students foiled the will of permanent residents in Denton's vote to halt hydraulic fracking, the ban's opponents claim. The Tribune crunched the numbers, and found the argument difficult to support.

Over the last two weeks, we've shared our 15-part multimedia series on how the state's explosive oil and gas growth is changing lives and fortunes across Texas. Take a look back at the Shale Life project in its entirety — the result of a crowd-funding drive and six months of reporting by more than a dozen journalists.

Want an oil and gas job? Head to West Texas. Energy companies are sending recruiters to weekly job fairs, in search of qualified workers to fill a seemingly endless list of positions. Most job candidates believe the boom won’t last forever — and say they better cash out while they can. This video is part of our Shale Life project.

As state regulators fret about how President Obama’s effort to combat climate change would affect the Texas power grid, a new study says the rules would be simpler to adopt than those regulators suggest – and that it would save the state billions of gallons of water annually.

What's it like to live in Texas’ biggest oil-producing county? We attended a Friday night football game to find out. The fans described challenges and opportunities: deadly roads, new job offers, transformed landscapes and growing economies. This slideshow is part of our Shale Life project.

The smallest county in Texas may not hold that distinction for much longer. Loving County has about 90 people but swells by hundreds each day due to a flood of oil workers. While some complain about the surge in drilling trucks, others see the oil boom as a lifeline from extinction. This video is part of our Shale Life project.

As Texas regulators weigh a response to President Obama’s proposal to combat climate change, the operator of the state’s main electric grid says the plan would raise energy costs and threaten reliability – particularly in the next few years.

How many people have moved to the Eagle Ford Shale as a result of its energy boom? That’s a tough question to answer. While thousands of people have flocked to the region for new jobs, the transient nature of the work presents a big challenge for local leaders, who struggle to plan for housing, schools, pipelines and roads. This animation is part of our Shale Life project.

Growing turnover among corrections officers is nothing new in Texas — turnover has been on the rise statewide since 2006. But with the energy boom creating an explosion of high-wage job growth, finding and keeping prison employees has become even more difficult. This story is part of our Shale Life project.